Ever Wonder Why…

… stars Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel never take part in GILMORE GIRLS DVD commentaries? Well wonder no more. In a recent Emmy chat with Gold Derby’s Tom O’Neil, star Lauren Graham revealed the real reason why there are never any ‘girls’ on the GILMORE GIRLS DVD commentaries.

Jets57 asks: In the past you and Alexis both mentioned working on DVD extras but they never seem to appear – what happened?

Lauren Graham responds: We make no money on DVD so don’t tend to do the commentary as we think that is unfair.

Now there’s a rarity in Hollywood, an honest answer! Kudos to Lauren Graham for being so upfront with her fans. That said, does anyone else find it a touch depressing that it all comes down to dollars and cents with stars Graham and Bledel? Who knew sitting down for forty-four minutes and commenting on a show you supposedly love was such an ardous task. How much money would make these girls happy? If it wasn’t clear before, it’s more than clear now that the real reason fans didn’t get a proper final season of the GILMORE GIRLS was simply due to the fact that the CW failed to back up a big enough Brinks truck.

Update: As the debate rages on in the comments, Jenna said it best when she wrote, “It might not earn them anything but if nothing else it’s a nice way to say “thank you”.”

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I really hope she was being sarcastic, that’s the snottest (can’t spell) answer I’ve ever heard!

http://marriage.families.com/blog Heather Long

As fans, we want actors and actresses to be as emotionally invested in their work as we are. But the truth is, they work for a living, they have bills to pay and it’s all well and good to say, hey what’s 44 minutes of your life worth? I appreciate her honesty. She doesn’t make a profit off the DVDs, so I can see why after hours of filming, they wouldn’t want to ‘volunteer’ to sit around and ‘comment’ on their own work. But that’s just my opinion.

Common Sense

Sounds like greed at the network/ownership level….biting off their nose to spite the face. C’mon, you couldn’t offer the cast a nice paycheck or percentage of DVD sales, in exchange for invaluable “extras” material? Although, Lauren & her agent (and all future stars) seriously need to request a clause in the initial contract. This is how all those classic TV stars (from Gilligan, etc.) got stiffed…no clause for residuals.

I recall Seinfeld recently ponying up for Jason & Julia to come aboard and do DVD commentary. They were holding out, as well. (Michael Richards was happy to do it—good for him.) I guess it goes two ways…if you’re proud of your work, you compromise a bit to make its legacy the best it can be.

Enidee

I agree with Tim G. :S That’s plainly very un-Lauren Graham…

http://www.thetvaddict.com theTVaddict

CS- Definitely greed all around. Agreed.

Heather – it’s not like she wouldn’t have been paid, and no doubt paid a helluva lot more than you or I make for her 44 minutes of time. It’s just that she wouldn’t make a % off the DVD sales.

VCAD

ever considered that this is FOR the fans? I mean sure, the studio is going to make some serious bucks selling the DVD’s but come on! the fans are the one who appreciate the commentaries, besides this people make what? hundreads of $$$$$$$$ per episode, this makes me very angry. I never wacthed the GG so…whatever

Jenna

While I hate it when fans say stuff like “we kept them in business so they owe us”, it wouldn’t hurt for the actresses/actors to show some appreciation… 44 minutes isn’t that much to give. It might not earn them anything but if nothing else it’s a nice way to say “thank you”.

Makes me extra happy for having Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki as the leads on my favourite show… interesting or not, the commentary is there.

http://marriage.families.com/blog Heather Long

True, they probably would have been paid for it, but apparently that didn’t happen. I get what Jenna is saying about it being a great way for them to say thank you to the fans. But I also don’t necessarily need them to say thanks so much as I needed them to be there 100% on the screen and in their stories. I feel like they did that and I was pretty pleased with their performances overall.

Yes, I would have liked the commentary, but then again — I buy the DVDs so I can rewatch the episodes and now my daughter is growing up watching those shows with me and it’s a series that started before she was born.

Thanks for the interesting viewpoints!

Michelle

44 minutes isn’t that much to give?

Let’s add that up. Assuming that the recording of the commentary only takes 44 minutes, though it probably takes longer.

Seven seasons of twenty-two episodes each, comes to about 6800 hours. In addition to reading the script, learning the lines, rehearsal and filming, all on a show with dialogue about twice as dense as other shows. 6800 hours is more than three years of 8 hour/5 days a week work. And she’s supposed to do it all for the fans?

I don’t know Lauren’s salary or hours but I bet she worked a longer week than I do, and also made a lot of money for the company that made GG that she won’t ever see.

I work hard at my job too, and I’m frequently asked to do things above and beyond my contract hours, and sometimes I say no. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with asking to be paid to do a job. Assuming that actors should work for little or no pay is unrealistic and as Lauren put it, unfair.

http://seat42f.blogspot.com seat42f

if an athlete said I don’t sign autographs for fans because I don’t get paid we’d all say that person is a jerk…. just sayin

http://whatisthegfor.vox.com Tim G.

amen, seat42f.

ewanspotter

Michelle,

It’s not like the DVDs come out in one hunk and they need to sit down for “6800″ hours straight. Even doing one episode in a season is a fun treat for fans. That’s one episode a year (if there’s one DVD set released a year). A lot of actors do it. They can even do it during their work day as there tends to be gaps in filming anyway.

Jo

Michelle – I don’t think there are any tv series sets out there where actors have done commentary for every single episode! Generally a handful of episodes are chosen for commentary and even then, it rare for the same people to do all the commentaries. Usually a couple actors do one ep, a couple different actors do another, maybe a writer or producer or costume designer do a one. I think the point is that it would have been nice (and insightful & a lovely gift to the fans) if Lauren & Alexis had even done commentary on one episode per season. At 44 minutes per season, that’s just over 5 hours… not even a full working day divided over 7 years.

plinstrot

I just got done rewatching Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared as well as watching all the commentaries (47 seperate tracks), and not only did litterally every actor do multiple tracks, but they joked many times about how they weren’t being paid for it. They all did it for the love of their fellow cast and crew, there love of the show, and for their real desire to make something special for the fans. Oh well. I guess they’re the exception.

plinstrot

Jo: Undeclared and Freaks and Geeks are both shows that did commentaries for every episode and for F&G even more (18eps, 30 tracks). Though again no one apeared in all of them (save maybe Judd Apatow).

Dominique

Lauren Graham reason is probably the same as to why Sarah Michelle Gellar never did anything extra for the Buffy DVDs. Seriously those people make more a day than some people will do in a year and they make that money because we, the fans, watch our TV and we enjoy TV show. Without house, every show would be cancelled after 2 episodes … LG just showed again that she is probably not as nice and kind and friendly as she seems. Anyway, we all know Alexis and Lauren did not come back because of money reason and not because they want to do something else. See ya both on dancing with the stars in a couple of years Lauren and Alexis.

Alyson

Cut her some slacks, she doesn’t exist to please your fan wishes.
I hope you know how gruelling her work hours are (16+), and she mentioned that she missed all major events that occured during those seven years of GG (e.g. births & weddings).
I saw her on Leno and she seemed so happy to be spending some time with her loved ones that I can see why most actors don’t agree to do commentaries.
(And she may earn a fair amount of money, but in no way is she super rich)

Josh

“I hope you know how gruelling her work hours are (16+), and she mentioned that she missed all major events that occured during those seven years of GG (e.g. births & weddings).”

I feel so bad for her, with her millions of dollars and her constant breaks from filming in that 16 hour day, and her weeks and months off from shooting. Yeah, it must be awful for her.

I mean, c’mon now. Although I don’t see why actors shouldn’t get paid for doing DVD work, they should still do it for the fans that have given them jobs for 7 years. If it weren’t for the fans, Gilmore Girls would’ve ended after 22 episodes.

Enidee

Geez I still can’t get over the fact that LG is not a selfless artist. She likes money, a lot… Call me naive, but I hadn’t pictured her that way.

http://www.thetvaddict.com theTVaddict

Does anyone else just love the irony. For seven years she played a character who ran away from the GILMORE lifestlye — ie. money. Yet in real life, she’s all about the Benjamins.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for actors making money. But a the very least, she could have given us one forty-four minute commentary per season. We are, afterall shelling out 50+ bucks for the DVD set.

John

“Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for actors making money. But a the very least, she could have given us one forty-four minute commentary per season. We are, afterall shelling out 50+ bucks for the DVD set.”

And she gets none of the “50+ bucks”, so don’t complain to her about not getting your money’s worth.

My favorite commentaries are by Joss Whedon whenever he did Buffy episodes, he’s funny and smart. Esp. loved the “Once More With Feeling” and the “Chosen” one (no pun intended).
Firefly commentaries are also very good, and most of the cast have done one! So funny and informative.

KayDee

Actors are paid a good wage to do their series, but ultimately the product belongs to the studios. Whether the actors should get a piece of the DVD revenues, I don’t know. But considering TV shows have been released on DVD for a long time, if Lauren wanted to be paid for any time needed to record something, she should have had that written into her contract. Is it too much to ask for her to give a little something back to her fans?

Ashley

What a bitch.

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